Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise a report we received from Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, a couple of days ago with regard to problem gambling. It stated that an earlier figure that has been in the public domain, which is that 12,000 adults are impacted, is most likely an underestimation of the problem of gambling. We know that it does not just affect people directly, but that it affects their families and communities around them. What is interesting about this report is that it identifies people who are more vulnerable to gambling addiction and problem gambling. They may be experiencing addictions in other areas and gambling is an issue which is, perhaps, connected to mental health.

A body of work needs to be done here with regard to schools, and the growing awareness of gambling in schools. This is an issue that is still very much stigmatised, even though we are talking about it more. The level of secrecy around the impacts of gambling addiction is huge. The Gambling Regulation Bill 2022 is coming through the Houses. It would be good to get an update on that, but it would also be useful to have a debate around social, personal and health education, SPHE, and where gambling and other things fit into the curriculum, because it is a very crowded curriculum. The junior certificate SPHE has been worked on this year, but we are coming up to the senior cycle.

I would like to give a quick nod to a campaign that I am involved in called Gambling with Lives. A pilot was run in schools in the North, and we are hoping to run it in the South. We are linking in with Foróige, and hopefully sporting organisations. It is an award-winning campaign that shows teenagers the problems of gambling, and speaks directly to them about it.